August 15, 2014 by David K. Sutton
Governmental Abuse Of Power
With today’s news that Texas governor Rick Perry has been indicted on abuse of power charges, a thought crossed my mind. It seems we can expect Republicans to set aside their usual big government rhetoric and come to the defense of Perry, but of course if this was a Democratic governor, Republicans would hold this up as yet the latest example of big government corruption. And that usual rhetorical refrain from Republicans implies that government is somehow more corruptible than some other entity like private enterprise. Is that really true? Is the public sector inherently more corruptible than the private sector? Or, is it that the public sector is held to a higher standard? And if it’s the latter that is true, it seems to me the ideological radar of many conservatives is candidate for a long overdue calibration. After all, if conservatives praise the private sector as the shining example of how to accomplish things efficiently and cheaply, why is it the public sector is held to a higher standard? And could it be true that the private sector is equally as corruptible, only, since it’s the private sector, we don’t know about it?
